Planning permission

[revjames]

I am moving house soon. The house I have bought is at the end of a cul de sac. House is detatched and has a wall around it with a sizeable garden. There are no pavements or kerbs, just tarmac. My plan is to pull down about 10' of wall and put gates there and make a driveway. I have heard of driveways needing to be permeable material so probably will put weedmat down and chippings on top. As I am not crossing a pavement and there is no passing vehicular traffic, does anyone know if I need planning?

Thanks

 

[steptoe]

Only thing I know of is the issue with a drop kerb

 

[user 28595]

Ring the council and ask them, they are very helpful IME.

cheers, Paul

 

[revjames]

Thanks, Steps, theres no kerb or pavement involved, just road surface right on the other side of my wall. PPP, council not that helpful here. 

 

[ProDave]

Strictly speaking yes you need planning to create an access to a public road.

When I did the planning application for my news house I just titled it "erection of dwelling" but the planners changed that to "Erection of dwelling, formation of new access to public road and installation of a sewage treatment plant"  All 3 things needed planning so they listed them.  I had a planning condition that the new access had to be created first before building work started.
 

 

[Lurch]

You still need to apply for planning, as @ProDave says, it is the access, not the crossing of the pavement that you need planning for.

That being said, I see loads of houses with drives/vehicular access and no planning, depends where you are as to whether you would get away with just doing it or not, although the expensive part is usually the drop kerb so I would just apply for the planning permission, especially if you ever want to sell the house.

 

[steptoe]

Round this way, you apply to council for PP and its one of those automatically granted things unless there is a serious reason not to, they then send you a list of approved contractors that you must use if you are dropping the kerb,

as that doesn't apply to you, then just apply for PP and once granted take your wall down.

 

[Murdoch]

May be prudent to check with your Council and deeds ... our back garden backs onto a road ... our deeds forbid access to our property from the road in question

 

[phil d]

Yes always worth checking, that way even if no permissions are needed you have it in writing. Sometimes permissions are not granted due to the type of road from which you want to gain access, if it was say a 50mph road there could be safety issues with vehicles entering or leaving premises on to that road. This may not be the case in your situation,i.e it's not a 50 mph road, however if there was an accident, and the blame was laid at your door, then the fact that you have discussed it with the council and followed the correct procedures would  go a long way toward your case.

 

[apprentice87]

Hi All,

I always understood that you could create an access onto a road no probs, but, if you cross a pavement they will make you pay for a dropped kerb, and i believe you DO need planning permission, UNLESS it is onto an UNCLASSIFIED road.

Look what i found!!

Class F – hard surfaces incidental to the enjoyment of a dwellinghouse

Permitted development

F.  Development consisting of—

(a)the provision within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse of a hard surface for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse as such; or

(b)the replacement in whole or in part of such a surface.
Development not permitted

F.1  Development is not permitted by Class F if permission to use the dwellinghouse as a dwellinghouse has been granted only by virtue of Class M, N, P or Q of Part 3 of this Schedule (changes of use).
Conditions

F.2  Development is permitted by Class F subject to the condition that where—

(a)the hard surface would be situated on land between a wall forming the principal elevation of the dwellinghouse and a highway, and

(b)the area of ground covered by the hard surface, or the area of hard surface replaced, would exceed 5 square metres,

either the hard surface is made of porous materials, or provision is made to direct run-off water from the hard surface to a permeable or porous area or surface within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse

Class B – means of access to a highway

Permitted development

B.  The formation, laying out and construction of a means of access to a highway which is not a trunk road or a classified road, where that access is required in connection with development permitted by any Class in this Schedule (other than by Class A of this Part).

If you want to wade through the lot, here it is...

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/schedule/2/made

There you go!!!

john..

 

[Murdoch]

^^ a BIG word of caution.

Around my patch Permitted development, of any kind, has been completely withdrawn in certain areas

 

[revjames]

it looks like (from Johns exhaustive reply) that it should be within permitted development. The road is a residential street and house is at a dead end with no pavement, I will try and get some sense from council planning and highways in any case. I need the access for bringing in building materials for work I will need to get on with as soon as we get in.

 

[apprentice87]

Around my patch Permitted development, of any kind, has been completely withdrawn in certain areas

That is correct, they can do that.. In, cannot remember the name now, oh yes, "conservation areas" the permitted development rights do not apply, but in ANY area the council can apply to have them withdrawn, a section 4 something or other?? I would think that this is a bit unusual though. I would just get on and do it myself...

john..

 

[Murdoch]

^^ there is a very big estate near me, people were using permitted development to add all sorts of extensions, many of which were squeezed in and / or just wrong .... And hence why the Council did what they did.

 

[Evans Electric]

In case it helps , dropped kerbs , in my area , at least £800  .

For a few kerb stones , a bit of Tarmac and half a day 's  work .

Or you do what someone does in the next road to me ,  chuck some timber down next to the kerb, drive up it over the kerb,   totally destroy the grass verge  and park on your frontage.       The council won't do anything , because , like in Rochdale , they back off when faced with tackling so called "ethnic" minorities.